Bridges

Sunday my thoughts drifted back to a day over 35 years ago. I was between my sophomore and junior year in high school and I was driving my first Cadillac across the causeway spanning Lake Ponchartrain in Louisiana. Seems that my friend Charles Ganus and his father Dr. Cliff Ganus, president of Harding at the time (I'm not dropping names by the way. Charles is still a friend and Dr. Ganus is one of my heroes.) James Ganus, Charles' uncle, and Robert Ganus, his cousin put a 20 foot boat in the White River near Searcy and floated all the way down the Mississippi to New Orleans. I was asked to go with Mrs. Ganus and drive the Cadillac down with the boat trailer behind. After several days in New Orleans eating at three or four of the Ganus cafeterias, we flew home on the school plane. I was in high cotton. I had never been to Lousiana before, let alone go all the way to New Orleans.
Thirty-five years later, I was driving north on the same causeway crossing Lake Ponchartrain to get some training for a trip we'll take with our church group in June. Indeed there was a lot of water under the bridge! I thought about my life, things that had happened since that day in 1970, and wondered where the time had gone. I finished high school, went to college, married a wonderful woman, had two kids, worked as a youth minister, worked for four Christian colleges, got my master's and doctorate, preached along the way, and now here I was crossing the same bridge years later. So much has changed. I'm heavier, grayer, older, hopefully wiser, slower, on and on ad nauseum. But the one consistent in my life has been my Lord. He has never left me. He has never forsaken me. He will always be there. I know. He promised me. And because of that, even though all else may change, I know that he will be beside me.
One day I'll cross another bridge. This time it will be for good and I can continue my road on eternity's path. And once again, He'll be right there by my side. Praise God!! Have a great day. JW